The World of Lightforce
ON THIS PAGE IS SUBJECT TO FREQUENT CHANGE AS A DIRECT RESULT OF ME NOT HAVING ANY IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. It's a big, scary world out there, and as far as exploration goes, your guess is as good as the DM's in how you will traverse it, but maybe it's best to start with basics... The World As of this moment, the actual name of this planet has proven to be of such little importance that it hasn't had one at any point during its three years of existance. What is worth knowing, however, is that it can scale with the size for roughly two and a half earths, in terms of mass and/or area. The surface is roughly 65% water, as most of the land tends to be on some kind of plateau or mountain, rather than just flat, rolling hills, at least for the most part. Each race in this world has adapted to different locations. Large groups of dwellings can be identified in three tiers, Cities, Towns, Villages, and Encampments. *The Humans tend to live in plains, or plateaus, occupying the odd mountain if it's sunny enough through the course of a day. *The Karu, unsurprisingly, occupy the oceans of the planet, their primary city being very deep, and on the underside of a titanic dying kraken, but more on that later. *The Whaels are probably the most widely dispersed, but their 'primary' city was founded in a great marsh of sorts, a region that was fertile, and, aside from insects and varying mollusks, unoccupied. *The Bjorks currently mke their home in the flying island of New Bjork City, a massive supercolony suspended in the sky by the planet's most advanced technologies. They used to occupy an older city in a large, fruitful mountain range, but they were all like 'screw this' and moved to space. (but not really, that'd be far too baller.) *The Golems are a very young race, and tend to occupy a number of cities with relatively even distribution, but their 'home' would probably have to be in the great, unnamed ruins. While lacking in textual identification, this area is rich with lore that will be elaborated upon in its own section. 'Embassies ' *Whael embassies take the form of an ornate, mutli-floor bazzarrs, featuring curious treasures from all around the globe, collected by some fo the world's most famous travelers. If you are looking to buy unique items, or sell what you have to much more eager buyers, this can be one of the best, or worst places to do it, depending on who's set up there. If you have amassed a wealth of unique treasures, you can leave them with the managers, and will provide you with around three quarters of the gold they can sell it for, while you go about your business. This option is less time-consuming, but also yields less gold, and almost no return treasures. This is also a great place to visit if you're looking to hear of current events in any towns that are wealthy, but not connected by the Tele-circles. Bargaining with Whael traders is tough at first, they arne't out to rob you, but they love to turn a good profit. However, over time, haggling with traders will become easier and easier. *Bjork embassies take the form of well-kept, friendly taverns, providing champions, adventurers, and knights of any renown with inexpensive nourishment and provisions, and a plethora of unique and competetive hunting quests, rewards being as high as you and your competitors are willing to boast, and will often lead to in incrase in personal fame or renown. In addition, the Bjork embassy is one of the best locations to meet other adventurers, and possibly do a little bit of networking in case you need some help down the road. *Karu embassies take the form of inns, allowing weary travelers free overnight stays, and extended stays in exchange for assistance with mostly non-combative tasks. The karu are famed for their top-notch hospitality, and their ability to empathize, if you're in bad shape, Karu embassy representatives will provide whatever care is nessecary to get you back in the game. They normally ask for nothing in return for this, but abusing their generosity can lead to some level of bitterness from the locals. Alternatively, they offer quests that will give you great favor in the eyes of the local public, as most cities tend to enjoy the company of the Karu. *Human embassies most often take the form of temples, following suit with the Sol human tradition of sun worship. If you have fallen victim to a wielder of the darker arts of evocation, or come accross some manner of cursed beast, the clerics at any human embassy will be happy to relive you of any form of curse, or corruption, so long as you are humble in seeking their assistance. These embassies are run by the Grand Cross, and are well-fortified, strictly for defensive purposes in the event of invasion or attack, and they will always offer protection to those who need it the most. If you have a righteous quest in progress, knights of the human embassy will often be happy to provide your party with well-rounded support, as paladins often wield a mix of physical and magical abilities, including buffs and healing. If you are looking to make a reasonable ammount of gold, these embassies will often have open quests that involve safeguarding, escorting, and any other manner of protective service that they are unable to provide with their own, limited staff. *As of this moment, Golem Embassies are still a work in progress, more world-development will need to happen before i can determine how these are going to get set up. City of Brilliance: Alabastor Alabastor is a town visually inspired by a mixture of architecture styles, but is most easily compared to the aethetic presented in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's starting town, Skyloft, minus the whole flying thing. cream-colored stone buildings with wooden supporting fixtures, but with a bit more of a royal flair, if you will. Common buildings will be built with varying types of limestone, whereas fancier and more wealthy establishments will be built with a mixture of high-quality marbles, and bits of mythrill, which, in the Lightforce universe, is known well for its resistances to both physical and magical attacks. As for the individualization fo these buildings, most information is displayed on elaborate tapestries and banners, wether it be for the name of a business, a religious organization, or even jsut a family crest, they are all generally made with a high level of care, regardless of where they hang. In the town square, or circle really, there is a large circular mossaic of various enchanted stones, which shine with a constant, soft glow. Naturally, during the evening, this is a beautiful sight, and often provides light for a plethora of evening celebrations, for which the city of Alabastor is very well known. The great glowing circle serves a much greater purpose, though, as the primary method of transportation between alabastor and the other major cities. There is one of these in all four of the major cities, and one is currently beign constructed in the Golem ruins, as a show of good will toward the budding race, funded by the Whaels, enchanted by human magic, delivered by the Bjorks, and soon to be maintained by the ambassadors of the Kraken city, as has been their duty in every other city beforehand. City of Achivement: New Bjork City (Gold star for creativity, guys. #sweg) New Bjork city is a supercolony of all races that is suspended at least half a mile above ground level at any given time, its size is comparable to roughly a quarter of rhode island, so yeah, pretty huge. Thematically, the lifestyle and societal setup is comparable to a mix of 1940's new york, and the soviet union's level of emphasis on industry. The Bjork philosophy is to work hard, and enjoy the fruits of your labor heartily with your colleauges. Everyone pitches in, so everyone has the right to celebrate this city in all its greatness. In Bjork society, those you work with can often be just as close as your family, and should be treated with the same level fo respect and courtesy. Since this is a mostly class-less society, theft and crime is relatively uncommon. City of Progress: Old Bjork City A very scary place to be, Old Bjork city was where the Bjorks lived before lifting off to live in the sky. This city is now primarily occupied by a mix of bjorks and Whaels, and is run primarily by heated gang violence between a number of fierce warring factions, all trying to control as much territory as possible. As far as visuals go, think las vegas, but slowly falling just a bit further further into disrepair with every passing monthof violence. City of Wonder: The Great Marsh Write the second section of your page here. City of Kinship: Kraken Write the second section of your page here. City of Rebirth: The Ethereal Caverns Write the second section of your page here. Village of Quartz Write the second section of your page here. Township of Barq Write the second section of your page here.